


After Hours

by Blueinsideout



Category: Classic Disney Cartoons
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-21
Updated: 2009-12-21
Packaged: 2017-10-04 22:03:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/34581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blueinsideout/pseuds/Blueinsideout
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone needs to unwind after work...</p>
            </blockquote>





	After Hours

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Las](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Las/gifts).



There was a street that led off past the brightly colored houses and candy scented air. If you followed it down and around the twists and turns you might not even be in the park anymore, or you could be somewhere backstage, or in another world. At the end of that street you would find a café though, and its doors would always be open.

The café was the place where people went after: after filming, after the crowds, even after being forgotten. It was also where they could just be themselves, not a sugar coated version of themselves, but really and truly themselves. Some nights you might find it full of people with amazing powers and outfits made of spandex, or colorful characters, or kids with the weight of the world on the shoulders below their spiky hair. Tonight, if you went in, you would find a duck sitting at the bar, sharing space with a mouse.

The television in the corner blared out a pop theme song and they both winced. The barman picked up the remote and turned the television off before he was even asked to.

"I can't stand that crap," the duck grumbled into his drink. "It's all we ever are anymore."

"I don't like it either," the mouse replied. "It pays our salaries though. As much as we did theirs, once upon a time."

"Whatever you say, boss," the duck muttered.

"Don't be stupid," the mouse said. "I thought we were long past that..."

The defining point between friend and rival can be hard to find sometimes. At the end of the day the most important part of the definition is someone that will sit next to you and have a drink.

"Do you ever want to quit?" the duck asked, changing the topic.

"I couldn't quit if I wanted to," he replied, taking a swig of his drink.

"Yeah," the duck sighed. "I guess I couldn't either."

They both stared off into the dim lights of the nearly empty café for a few minutes.

"But maybe we could get a replacement," the duck suggested with the barest hint of optimism in his voice. "Just long enough to take a break."

The mouse turned towards him and raised an eye. "You can take a break you know," he said. "I'm the one that has to be there all day every day."

"And what?" the duck asked, slightly irritated, "I'm not as important as you?"

"It's not about that," the mouse said. "And you know it. If you want to take a break so badly, take a break. I thought you liked the attention."

"I just get tired of the expectations," the duck said. "It's not a bad gig, being liked and popular. But I have to be so careful with every word and every action. We have to I guess. I don't know."

"Quit moping," the mouse nudged the duck with his shoulder. "At least we're here. We have jobs... an existence."

"Yeah, yeah..." the duck agreed.

"What are you doing tonight?" the mouse asked. "Meeting Daisy later?"

"I'm drinking tonight," the duck answered. "I don't know about Daisy. Maybe that's what I'm doing later," he wiggled his eyebrows in a way that he would never be able to while on the clock.

"There are things I could live without knowing about," the mouse laughed, glad to see his friend perking up a little.

"You're one to talk," the duck said. "You don't have any plans to make Minnie woo-ooo?"

"Enough already," the mouse said. He wasn't really so embarrassed as much as he was letting his friend get the upper hand.

They laughed together for a minute until laughter slowed to a companionable silence only interrupted by the ticking of the clock and the sound of glasses being raised and lowered from the bar.

"It would just be nice to get to grow up a little," the duck said.

"Be grown up on your own time," the mouse replied. "As much as you ever are at least. Stop trying to be so serious. Enjoy the act. It gets you through it."

"If one more brat shoves me out of the way to try to get to you..." the duck scowled.

The mouse tilted his head back and downed the last of his drink. "You'll scream 'What's the big idea?!' and shake your fist at them and make the rest of the kids laugh and remember that they want to see you too," he laughed.

"Maybe one day they'll shove you out of the way to get to me," the duck said.

"Maybe," the mouse said. "And maybe elephants will fly... oh wait, we have that already don't we?"

The sound of footsteps came from near the open door of the café and the duck and mouse both turned their heads. A female duck and mouse came in together with the sound of high heels on hardwood and feminine giggles that could only mean that the men were the topic of conversation.

"Hiya, toots!" the duck crowed to his lady friend, raising his glass in her direction. She shook her head bemusedly and shrugged her shoulders towards her friend with a look that said "What are you going to do?"

"Let's get out of here, Mickey," the female mouse sidled up to her companion. "It's an early morning tomorrow, and I want some time alone with you," she smiled coyly.

"Woo-hoo," the duck laughed in his friend's direction.

"Shut up," the mouse said good-naturedly. He laid a few dollar bills on the bar and took the female mouse's hand. "See you tomorrow, Donald," he said over his shoulder on his way out the door.

"Hi, Donald," the female duck slid into the now empty bar stool next to him. She raised two fingers in the direction of the bartender and he sat two shot glasses in front of them. "Bottoms up," she said. She raised her glass and they both tilted their heads back and let the liquid burn on the way down.

"I'm not drunk," Donald said. And he wasn't, not really.

"I know," Daisy smiled at him. "You want to get out of here?" she asked. "We could go back to my place..."

"In a little while," he said. "For now this is just right..."

 

The end.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Yuletide! I hope this story is close to what you wanted. I'll admit that this was a bit out of my comfort zone, but that's part of what Yuletide is all about.
> 
> The cafe in this story is The Subreality Cafe, which you may have heard of, and may not have heard of, but has been around for ages and doesn't belong to me. Neither does the barkeep.


End file.
